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Monday, December 30, 2013

I've been a bit absent on the ol' blog . . . again. Big shocker, I know. My apologies. It's not you. It's me. I live what you could say is an anticlimactic life. Anyway, I've been a bit busy these past couple of months, but I thought I better get one last post in 2013.

As I wander through my self-publishing adventure like a blind man in a smoke-filled rave party, I've inevitably stumbled along the way. One of my major mistakes was wasting a bunch of time trying to promote old works instead of welding my rump to the chair and super-gluing my fingers to the keyboard. I've heard it said many times the best way for an indie writer to succeed (or at least increase sales) is to have multiple works out. Despite knowing that, I still had trouble pulling away from the promotion side of the business.

Mid way through the year though I turned over a new leaf. I started writing feverishly on a new project. I had in my mind that I would write a series. Around mid-September I completed book one and now I'm three quarters of the way through book two. In the traditional realm I know that it's not advisable to write book two until you're sure book one will sell, but indies play by different rules. Besides, it's turning out to be more of a continuing story--like Lord of the Rings or The Dark Tower Series--that I'm breaking up into separate books.

I haven't yet churned out the second draft of book one mostly due to the day job and writing book two. I'm hoping to put in some writerly overtime and get book one out soon. I haven't released the name of the series because . . . well, I'm a bit paranoid that the name will be taken before I can get the book published. Stupid, I know, but it's my own little piece of neuroses.

I received some bad news a few weeks ago that my job will be going away. I'm searching for a new job, but as any of you in the same situation know, the pickin' sure are slim. So, I'm rushing to finish book two because I just don't know where I might end up in the next month or so. There's a good chance I may get stuck on 3rd shift and if I do I'm sure my writing time will suffer.

If things go well, I'm hoping in 2014 to publish the two books I've written and write another three. Wish me luck.

I would like to thank all of you that bought, read and reviewed my stories this past year. I hope you had a great 2013 and may 2014 be ten times better.